Anonymity Reading so much lately about things going wrong on the internet. It scares me to think that anybody who decides one day they want to find me will have no problem doing it. My last post was about a function at my boys' school, and so now everyone could know what school they go to (I ended up deleting it.) All my childrens' names are all over this blog. Even where we live and work. Of course I trust all you regulars, I would even consider you my friends. However, people come to my site by searching for some really odd things, and those people are not friends, no-sir-ee! So, I'll be making some changes (that might take a while) Hope you don't feel like this is a less-welcolming, less-friendly place because of our soon-to-be anonymity. Still trying to decide what's appropriate and how to go about it. (What to do about my archives???)

Meanwhile, in ParanoidLand, we've been having lots of fun. Spent two days surfing with my friend C, taking turns watching the twins.

C and I went to KMart and bought a swing set and PUT IT TOGETHER BY OURSELVES, yes, two girls did it, and in the dark no less. Actually, it took me another two days to get the rest of it done, and we're missing some pieces, lol.
But the kids are loving it. The neighborhood kids already broke one of the swings. Booo.

Off to work tomorrow, training in Trauma again. Wish me luck!  ¶ 6:36 PM 10Mana'o

  Knee Deep When hubby read what I wrote about my overspending habits, he asked me if that meant he had to stop too. LOL. He feels he's spending way too much in home improvement. And yeah, he's right, but it needs to be done.
Here is our kitchen last week :

The carpenter told us he was coming, to go ahead and take the sink out. So we did, then he didn't show up at 8am like he said. When I called him at 9, he said he went to get our replacement countertop and they didn't have it! He said it would take at least a week to get it in. So instead of going a whole week without a sink, we chose a new countertop that was in stock. And I love it. It's blue. It's costing us more, but I think it looks great.

Notice still no faucet. We didn't take into account it was Easter weekend and there will be no plumbers to put the faucet back in. FIVE DAYS with no water. Lots of eating out!

This is like the game where you have to compare two pictures and note the differences. hehehe.

I have big plans: 1.) Get rid of the nasty curtains 2.) tile the wall with pretty tiles or at least paint, 3.) Install a nice hanging pot rack, 4.) Eat that avocado trying to get ripe on the windowsill...if it's not already too yucky, and 5.) Actually learn how to cook for real!

  ¶ 2:47 PM 11Mana'o

  Dumbo I worked a long 12 1/2 hour day then come home to this:

Elijah's been having really bad reactions to mosquito bites. Hubby told me over the phone today that his ear was swollen, but I had no idea it was THIS bad! It's sticking straight out and is so swollen it looks like it is wanting to burst.(note normal size of left ear) I drove right back to the ER after coming home (and with all kids in tow because they wanted to come along.) The best perk of working there is that I could walk right in and ask a doc to please look at it. He wrote a prescription and we were out the door. This was already AFTER two doses of Benadryl and two applications of Triamcinolone. Not looking up the spelling of that, just gonna get to bed now, since I am back at work in 8 hours. Good night!

Back view....hard not to laugh, huh!

  ¶ 9:16 PM 12Mana'o

  What I Did All Saturday











This banner was too long to take only one pic of. When it's displayed at the luau, I wil be able to get a better pic of it but I was so happy with the way it turned out that I had to post it now : ) I used real acrylic paint on Lilo's greenery and and the plumerias and I think it made it look so much more authentic, I love it (but would have run out if I used it for everything, the rest is painted with bottles of 2 dollar walmart paint) BTW it actually says "Happy 1st Birthday Giselle" not gisoselle lol.  ¶ 8:11 AM 11Mana'o

  Hole in My Pocket Meet my lovely new friend.
I am too ashamed to show you ALL the new things I have bought.
Is there a shopping version of AA?
It wasn't meant to be this way. We have lived on one income for so long and did pretty good at it (in my opinion, anyway. Don't ask the credit card companies!)
When I got this job, I told my sons that soon I will be making money, but don't expect anything to be different, I will not spoil them and that this money will go to taking care of bills and go into savings.
As soon as the paychecks started rolling in, I'd see something that I like and go "I've had to deny myself for so long, I'm just gonna splurge this one time because I deserve it! I'll start saving NEXT paycheck"
Then one more paycheck came and went, then one more paycheck, and every paycheck since.
I knew it was becoming a problem when I would see things in the wash that I had completely forgotten that I bought. Or I'd rummage through my closet and find clothes with the tags on that I haven't even gotten around to wearing yet.
And everytime I go to Walmart I end up picking up things "just because" that I didn't really need and ALWAYS take a walk down the toy aisle "just to look" and end up getting things for no reason at all. It really adds up.
I'm not being SO irresponsible that the bills aren't getting paid, because they are, but other than that, the money is disappearing as fast as I can make it, and I feel so hopeless, because what is the purpose? Why am I working? It's just coming and going so fast, it's mind-numbing.
How could we have lived on one paycheck all these years, and now we are making more than double and there's STILL nothing to show for it? Isn't that scary and depressing?
It needs to stop, but it's almost like an addiction, there's so much to buy!
It's funny that it seems like the more you make, the more you spend.
It's true. I even buy more food than necessary now. Sad.
Help? Anybody?

Here's something I bought that was totally unnecesary on the mainland...at TARGET, the bestest store. It's a little cat that meows when you squeeze it, and it was just a dollar (but of course I had to buy three or four different animals)
Elijah really loved the cat and pretended it was real, petting it and hugging it. Now, wasn't that worth a dollar??

  ¶ 7:52 PM 11Mana'o